Paternity fraud rampant in U.S.

Paternity fraud rampant in U.S.

Excerpts:

More than three years ago, a Maine district court judge ruled that Geoffrey Fisher no longer had to pay child support for a child that wasn't his.

But that didn't stop the state from revoking Fisher's driver's license and coming after him for thousands of dollars it says he owes in back payments.

Last year, Maine sent Fisher, 35, a letter seeking $11,450 in child support, even though officials know that DNA tests proved he isn't the father of the child in question.

Fisher had a brief relationship with a woman eight years ago and when she got pregnant and told him he was the father, he believed her. He began paying child support but eventually fell behind.

In the summer of 2001, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services took him to court because of delinquent payments. The court ordered him to pay up, and the state had his license suspended under the "deadbeat dad" law.

That fall the girl, then 3, was placed in foster care. When Fisher pushed for custody, the state ordered a paternity test, which proved he wasn't the father.

At that point, one branch of the human services department told him he could no longer see the girl because he wasn't the father, while another said he owed $10,000 and couldn't have a driver's license because he was the father.

As the nation experiences an unprecedented increase in unwed motherhood, more men are finding themselves named as "fathers," for purposes of child support, simply because of their ability to pay, say several recent studies.

It's called "paternity fraud," and one state that examined the problem found as many as 30 percent of those paying child support were, indeed, not the biological fathers of the children being supported.

The most recent comprehensive study took place in New Hampshire under the auspices of the Commission on the Status of Men.

The commission found that even men who later were able to prove they were paying support for the children of other men were sometimes still forced by courts and state agencies to continue.

Like New Hampshire, California has also established a commission to explore the problem, based on reports that 14 percent are being misnamed as fathers. A report is expected later this year.

Florida is about to pass a new law that would end child support if a man proves he's not the father. Like most states, Florida currently requires that child support – once legally established – continue until the child's 18th birthday, regardless of who the real biological father is. Eleven states have changed similar laws since 1994.

A new state law took effect in Colorado this year that permits men, for the first time, to challenge his paternity of alleged offspring – at least during the proceedings of a divorce, separation or child-support action. However, once a final order is entered, the new law says, the man is barred from presenting evidence of non-paternity.

Bush to sign paternity, child support bill - Florida

AP Wire 05/20/2005 Bush to sign paternity, child support bill

Excerpts:

Gov. Jeb Bush planned to sign a bill Friday aimed at making it easier for the government to establish paternity and make sure child support payments are efficiently made.

The measure (HB 1283) makes several changes, many of them technical, dealing with how it is determined who the father of a child is and how child support is collected.

Among the changes is one that would allow the posting of information about undistributed child support on the Internet and another that could allow paternity to be established without a court order in some cases when genetic testing is conclusive.

For child support to be ordered, there currently must be a court ruling on paternity. Under the bill, if genetic testing shows paternity with more than 99 percent certainty, the court order could be skipped, although men who are involved could still bring the case to court to contest it.

Bill could help avoid paying support -Florida

Tallahassee Democrat 04/19/2005 Bill could help avoid paying support

What a SICK title - as if not wanting to pay for a child that is not yours is AVOIDANCE!!

Excerpts:

Men who get DNA tests to disprove paternity could avoid paying child support, under a bill Rep. Curtis Richardson steered through a key House panel Monday.

Some members of the House Justice Council objected that "the best interests of the child" were being trumped by belated proof that a man ordered to pay support was not the biological father of a child. But Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said his bill would not allow men to escape financial obligations if they have previously acknowledged fatherhood, adopted a child or tried to stop some other man from assuming parental responsibility.

Former state Sen. Fred Dudley, representing The Florida Bar family-law section, said it was important the bill only applies to future child-support orders "so we're not subjecting literally tens of thousands of child-support orders out there to a new rule about collateral attacks on the judgments." Dudley also said judges "always need to use the 'best-interests-of-the-child test' in making this determination" to end child support. (Read: Let's not give men who are currently paying support for children they did not father a reprieve.)

If a man has adopted a child, or has consented to being listed on a birth certificate as a baby's father, he could not change his mind and try to get out of child support under the bill. Richardson said if a man has stopped some other man from adopting a child or asserting fatherhood, he could not later renounce paternity and stop paying.

Richardson said men would have to file an affidavit in court stating that they do not think they fathered a child and would have to pay for DNA testing. A judge could require the mother to have the child tested.

Rep. John Quinones, R-Kissimmee, objected strenuously to the bill. He said some children have bonded with men they believe are their fathers, who may have accepted responsibility for years before getting suspicious and having a DNA test.

"You have children who are essentially going to be bastardized," Quinones said. "You have sperm donors and then you have fathers, and when someone has raised a child as their own for this many years ... they should continue their obligation."

But Rep. Mark Mahon, R-Jacksonville, said as a family-law attorney, he has had to explain to men that they must continue paying child support for children they can prove are not theirs.

"The courts are supposed to be searchers for truth," Mahon said. "It's very difficult to explain to a man that DNA testing can get someone off Death Row, but DNA proving they are not the father cannot get them relieved of a support order."

A companion bill (SB 1456) by Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is pending in the Children and Families Committee.

Florida DCF Slammed by Attorney

"State Attorney Bruce H. Colton blasts the agency for causing a father who may be innocent to lose his children, while an alcoholic, drug-addicted and neglectful mother was allowed to raise them."

The accusations levied by this attorney include "coaching" the children to falsely accuse their father of sexual abuse."

During most of the past seven years, DCF caseworkers went to great lengths to leave the two boys with their mother, Colton wrote, despite:

• An internal agency report that concluded ''the mother may not be a stable parent.'' One report concluded the mother's alcohol and drug abuse ``may present a substantial barrier to her achieving effective parenting skills.''

• Reports from officials at a halfway house in which DCF placed the mother and two boys said that they ''suspected that she leaves the premises to drink,'' does not require the boys to attend school, has allowed her car to be repossessed and is not allowed to visit her own mother due to a domestic violence injunction.

• A sworn statement from a doctor who said the mother ``brings [the] children to his office with alcohol on her breath.''

At a January 2001 court hearing, DCF officials blocked the introduction into evidence of a videotaped statement by the mother who said ''that DCF employees asked her to lie in order to obtain an injunction of protection against Gaffney,'' Colton wrote.

''DCF first took the children away from the father based on an inadequate investigation,'' Colton wrote. ``Then, DCF gave custody to the mother who had past criminal convictions, abused alcohol and controlled substances, and committed new crimes while having custody of the children.''

This is freaking disgusting! Sadly, not all that surprising though.

Entire article available at Herald.com

FARCE.org

I don't know what I think of the acronym, I understand the levity, but wonder what people think when it pops up on a search engine. Anyway, this is another Father's Rights group. They are planning a march on the capital on Father's Day and have a mailing list you can join. The group appears to be based in Florida. Fathers Awareness and Custody Equality

If you live in Florida this article will be very important. I do not think it is debatable that the family court systems in this country are operating largely to the detriment of the family. They are overloaded and under-staffed as it is. Family courts make (arguably) some of the most important decisions in the entire court system. The breakdown of the American family can affect so many societal problems, this has been demonstrated in studies again and again. Yet, while our government laments about the breakdown of the family, absentee parenting, gangs, violence, theft, teenage pregnancy... they continually skim money from the very programs created to address these problems: family courts and schools. St Petersburg Times